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Saturday, December 26, 2015

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly feature, hosted by Tynga's Reviews, where we get to share what books we have recently acquired!

Yesterday I spent my first Christmas in our new house. What is more peaceful then Christmas on the ocean? My parents gifted me 4 books. Then my boyfriend and I had a bookish Christmas and got each other books. That made 6 new books in total that I cannot wait to get to reading soon!

The principal of Opportunity, Alabama's high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.

The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03

The auditorium doors won't open.

10:05

Someone starts shooting.

Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes from four different perspectives, terror reigns as one student's calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review:

This is going to be a hard review for me to write. It seems that half of the people who read this book found it absolutely amazing and the other half found it fell flat. Sadly, I leaned more towards the later category. I was incredibly excited for this book. I love a good tough topic book and the fact that it takes place over only 54 minutes made it sound even more intense.

This book is less the than 300 pages so initially I expected it to be a fast read. I just could not get my head into it though. I ended up reading a majority of the book in smaller portions and then sat down and made myself finish the book before I could get up again. Since the book only takes place over 54 minutes you would think it would move very fast but I found it rather slow reading.

The book is told from multiple peoples perspectives. I usually love multiple POV books and I thought this would be an interest take on a school shooting since you would see if from all angles. My only problem was that each characters sections were very short. Many of them did not last more than a couple pages. I found this hard to be able to fully learn about the characters and to connect to them.

My biggest problem with the book was the shooter, Tyler. It was not necessarily his character but the fact that you never get to understand him. This book is about a school shooting and yet you do not get to learn much about the shooter. A majority of the book focuses on the other people in Tyler's life and not actually him. When it comes to an event like a mass shooting I think it is very important to understand, why? We are not given this in the book. Yes, it is obvious that there is a revenge motive in the book but what led to it? Tyler is a terrifying person. He took time and planned this whole entire event and ends up killing over 30 people. That does not just happen. I wish we had been able to see into his mind.

This book is definitely intense, emotional, and makes you think. I just think the lack of character background left me not invested in the book and ended up making the reading experience not as good as it could have been for me.

Saturday, December 19, 2015

It is all about sharing what books you have added to your book collection recently!

Many of you probably already know and participated in it but for those of you who haven't, Book Outlet had a massive black Friday sale where everything was 30% off. Of course I could not pass up that deal. I ended up buying 10 books + shipping for 28 dollars! Scroll down to see what books I picked up during this crazy sale!

All Imogene Scott knows of her mother is the bedtime story her father told her as a child. It's the story of how her parents met: he, a forensic pathologist, she, a mysterious woman who came to identify a body. A woman who left Imogene and her father when she was a baby, a woman who was always possessed by a powerful loneliness, a woman who many referred to as troubled waters.

When Imogene is seventeen, her father, now a famous author of medical mysteries, strikes out in the middle of the night and doesn't come back. Neither Imogene's stepmother nor the police know where he could've gone, but Imogene is convinced he's looking for her mother. She decides to put to use the skills she's gleaned from a lifetime of her father's books to track down a woman she's never known, in order to find him and, perhaps, the answer to the question she's carried with her for her entire life.

Rebecca Podos' debut is a powerful, affecting story of the pieces of ourselves that remain mysteries even to us - the desperate search through empty spaces for something to hold on to.

COMING JANUARY 26th 2016

When I first read this synopsis I added it to the top of my 2016 TBR list. This sounds like an emotional mystery with a contemporary feel to it. I love mystery's that blend into the lines of contemporary.

Can the best thing happen at the worst time? Her dad went crazy. Her mom left town. She has bills to pay and a little sister to look after. Now is not the time for level-headed seventeen-yearold Lucille to fall in love. But love—messy, inconvenient love—is what she’s about to experience when she falls for Digby Jones, her best friend’s brother. With blazing longing that builds to a fever pitch, Estelle Laure’s soulful debut will keep readers hooked and hoping until the very last page.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review:

I was immediately drawn to this book from the moment I saw the cover. The colors are gorgeous! Then when I read the synopsis I knew I wanted to read the book. I had never read a book like this before and I knew it was guaranteed to pull at my heart strings. When I found out they were doing an ARC giveaway at BEA I was determined to get my hands on a copy.

I can honestly say this book met my expectations in every way. I read This Raging Light in one day. I was so captivated by it and when I finished I could not stop thinking about the book for days. Every part of the book from the plot to the characters captured my heart from the first

page.

The characters were phenomenal. They were quirky and funny but strong and emotional at the same time. The protagonist, Lucille, is a stand out character. She is a witty, brave, hardworking girl, trying to keep it together to create a happy life for her little sister. I couldn't help but feel for her from the first page Another great thing about her character was how relatable she was.She is dealing with an extreme situation but her thoughts and emotions were very universal. The relationships depicted were what completed the perfectness of this book for me. The growing romance between Lucille and her best friends brother Digby was sweet and engaging.The relationship that made the book for me though was Lucille and her little sister Wren.

This is a super fast read too. The book itself is not very long and the poetic sense of Laure's writing will having you flipping through the pages. In only 288 pages Laure somehow makes you feel so many emotions. This book had me smiling, giggling, crying, and it made my heart ache. It also left me hoping though and I think that is one of the best things an author can make their reader feel.

If you are looking for a stand out contemporary that will make you feel all the emotions I highly recommend reading this book. I have never read anything like This Raging Light and I will not be forgetting it anytime soon.

About Me

Welcome readers! I am the founder of The Closet Library book blog, thanks for visiting! I am also the president of my library's teen advisory board located in New England. This blog is my own personal blog. Here is where I write reviews of different book titles (usually YA). I love to share my general love of books and reading with all of you guys!
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